A Model for Evaluating the Effects of Thai Government Taxation of Rice Exports on Trade and Welfare

Abstract

Abstract The implications of Thai government taxation of rice exports through the export premium on trade and welfare are examined by means of a dynamic simultaneous equation model which allows for interactions between the rice production, consumption, and export sectors. Although the export premium may have generated a net welfare gain for Thailand over the 1961–70 period, owing to the highly imperfect nature of the international market, it results in a substantial transfer from the farmers and may have adverse effects on their incentives to adopt modern inputs in paddy production.